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Boost business in your veterinary practice by using signage

A recent study finds that shoppers make important decisions based on visual cues.

Nov 16, 2011

By dvm360.com staff

VETERINARY HOSPITAL DESIGN

If the door to your veterinary practice just isn’t swinging like it used to, it may be time to invest in quality signage. A University of Cincinnati analysis of a market research survey of more than 100,000 North American households found that shoppers are drawn into businesses and make important quality inferences on the basis of signs. In fact, when consumers were asked to rate the perceived usefulness of various media, only television was ranked more highly than signage as the most useful source of new product information.

Indoor signage—such as those at the ends of aisles or at checkouts—tied with magazine ads as the second most useful source. And outdoor signage ranked third, followed by radio ads, Internet ads and finally, newspaper ads.

The survey also explored an important visual acuity issue: driving by and failing to find a business because its signage was too small or unclear. Nearly 50 percent of American consumers report that this has happened to them. Although the problem is universal across genders and regions, it varies across age groups. Surprisingly, this is not a “senior citizen” phenomenon, as both younger and older age groups report more signage communication failure than the middle (35 to 49 and 50 to 64) age groups.